Conservation and Land Management

The land on which the Maasai people depend on for their livelihood is no ordinary land. It forms part of the immensely important Mara/Serengeti system in the shared border of Kenya and Tanzania that supports the great wildebeest migration – named recently as the seventh New Wonders of The World. To manage these vital lands, an integrated conservation and land management program that guarantees livelihoods while conserving the ecosystem is needed. Basecamp recognises this need and we have partnered with 500 landowners to form the Mara Naboisho Conservancy and conserve a 50,000 acre wildlife refuge.

Our land and conservation program includes;

Mara Naboisho conservancy

Big cat monitoring

Elephant monitoring

Our achievements so far are;

50,000 acres put under conservation for 15 years

More than 100 jobs created in camps and for wildlife scouts

Economic empowerment through guaranteed monthly income for 500 landowners

70 lions in Naboisho- one of the highest densities in the world

Care

“HIV & AIDs is the new Maasai lion”. Our Care Program endeavours to reduce the rate of HIV/AIDs infection and to support healthier living for those infected in Koiyaki Division in the Masai Mara area. Additionally we strive to provide clean water and improve access to medical facilities and information in order to improve general community health. The objective of the Care Program is to make affordable health care service accessible to members of these communities.

Our care program works through these projects:

Workplace HIV policy

Health information

Nutritional supplements for HIV/AIDS patients

Construction of health facilities

Support to health facilities

Provision of clean water through boreholes

So far, we have been able to record these achievements

An active workplace program at Basecamp Foundation

Health information outreach program reaches 4,000 people annually

One new clinic at was constructed Olesere to ease pressure on Talek and to improve health services access to more than 2,000 people

Our Voluntary counselling and testing at market places initiative has served 202 people in 2011

Moonlight and door to door counselling

Nutritional supplements project for 5 people living with Aids (PLWAs)

Culture

At Basecamp, we respect local values and we only promote cultural interactions and exchanges that add value to lives of local people. Our objective is to preserve culture in time and space for economic benefit of the community through innovative use.

We have trained and engaged 118 women in producing Maasai jewellery for export

The Sanderang Craft Centre in India pays monthly wages for 20 women

The Lamu Dhow school has trained 20 youth in traditional dhow building

We have produced a DVD on Maasai life and CD on Maasai songs

Capacity

With an eye on the future challenges host communities are likely to face, we support a robust capacity building program that targets youth, women and leaders with an objective of empowering the Maasai to manage their resources, mainly land and wildlife, for posterity.

Our capacity program works through the following projects:

Education sponsorship & scholarships for higher education for girls

Koiyaki Guide School

Community managed micro-finance for women

Exchange visits for elders

The voluntourism project

Our achievements include

Twenty scholarships valued at US$ 20,000 have been awarded in the guide training school

More than 50 girls have been sponsored through primary school

Two post graduate scholarships have been awarded to community members

Climate

Climate change is a global problem with local implications. Frequent droughts and water scarcity are grim realities in Kenya and the Maasai Mara region is no exception. Having observed the dire effects of climate change in Masai Mara, we have focused our conservation efforts on this issue. The objective of our Climate program is to mitigate the effects of climate change by creating of greenvillages.